Boyd obviously trying to address some of the major shortcomings of last week, adding some ballast to the pack, removing the penalty magnet that is Alex Waller. Hartley still not considered fully fit despit nominally being available for selection. Good to see the injury list falling just in time for the holidays

Exeter haven't really bothered with kicking the points for the last couple of season and given that more often that not they seem to get the try you can understand their faith in it.

Saints, I dunno, maybe Boyd as a Kiwi prefers his charges to score tries wherever possible?

If a supporter of either I'd probably want them to take the 3 more often, but a s neutral it's nice to see them throw caution to the wind a bit and rely on getting 5.

I meant Exeter, specifically. I know that they generally back themselves to go for the try, but it seems silly in KO games. I feel like the fact that they've done nothing in Europe shows that they still haven't diversified their approach enough to be able to change it when needed. It seems arrogant or naive or something.

Saints going for the corner I can understand more. They were already 14 down and needed to make a dent in the scoreline. Maybe they felt that they wouldn't have enough visits to the 22 given Exeter's keep-ball, so they needed to make hay while they had the chance.

Last edited by Nolanator on Sat May 25, 2019 5:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Naiyaravoro is such a liability; no hands, no kicking skills and no brain. His mess-ups have led to 2 tries now!

Yep. Every now and then he'll go on the sort of run or score a try a bloke of size should, but that's too infrequent given the paucity of his all round game. It's probably a bit late to teach him the breakdown now, but I'd have been training him up as a 6 or an 8 years back.

Exeter haven't really bothered with kicking the points for the last couple of season and given that more often that not they seem to get the try you can understand their faith in it.

Saints, I dunno, maybe Boyd as a Kiwi prefers his charges to score tries wherever possible?

If a supporter of either I'd probably want them to take the 3 more often, but a s neutral it's nice to see them throw caution to the wind a bit and rely on getting 5.

I meant Exeter, specifically. I know that they generally back themselves to go for the try, but it seems silly in KO games. I feel like the fact that they've done nothing in Europe shows that they still haven't diversified their approach enough to be able to change it when needed. It seems arrogant or naive or something.

Saints going for the corner I can understand more. They were already 14 down and needed to make a dent in the scoreline. Maybe they felt that they wouldn't have enough visits to the 22 given Exeter's keep-ball, so they needed to make hay while they had the chance.

For Exeter I suppose it could be an extreme realisation of clubs' often stated desire to have an identity and to play their way. Possibly also a strong element, of "it hasn't worked because we haven't executed properly at key times" rather than believing there's any deep flaw with the approach which would probably fall under naivety more than arrogance.

Exeter haven't really bothered with kicking the points for the last couple of season and given that more often that not they seem to get the try you can understand their faith in it.

Saints, I dunno, maybe Boyd as a Kiwi prefers his charges to score tries wherever possible?

If a supporter of either I'd probably want them to take the 3 more often, but a s neutral it's nice to see them throw caution to the wind a bit and rely on getting 5.

I meant Exeter, specifically. I know that they generally back themselves to go for the try, but it seems silly in KO games. I feel like the fact that they've done nothing in Europe shows that they still haven't diversified their approach enough to be able to change it when needed. It seems arrogant or naive or something.

Saints going for the corner I can understand more. They were already 14 down and needed to make a dent in the scoreline. Maybe they felt that they wouldn't have enough visits to the 22 given Exeter's keep-ball, so they needed to make hay while they had the chance.

For Exeter I suppose it could be an extreme realisation of clubs' often stated desire to have an identity and to play their way. Possibly also a strong element, of "it hasn't worked because we haven't executed properly at key times" rather than believing there's any deep flaw with the approach which would probably fall under naivety more than arrogance.

Should be pointed out that most of the time, their approach works very well. 5 tries today in a SF by going for the corner.

That's great against >90% of the teams they'll play. Then they come up against Leinster or Sarries (maybe Racing etc on a good day) in a must win game, and their brute power game doesn't pay off.You can't afford to use 3 penalties to work a 7 pointer. You don't get that many opportunities at that level.

Kvesic MOTM for flopping on the ball all day, being a link man according to Ben Kay (4 passes), carrying well according to Ben Kay (13 carries for 3 metres), and making loads of tackles according to Ben Kay (11/1). Threw a horrible forward pass to ruin a big attacking moment. Hmmmm... Bit of a Stuart Barnes moment.

Naiyaravoro is such a liability; no hands, no kicking skills and no brain. His mess-ups have led to 2 tries now!

Yep. Every now and then he'll go on the sort of run or score a try a bloke of size should, but that's too infrequent given the paucity of his all round game. It's probably a bit late to teach him the breakdown now, but I'd have been training him up as a 6 or an 8 years back.

100%. Effective running in a straight line, but not much more. To add to sockwithaticket’s list of his limitations, he also has no real footwork and cannot defend for $hit.

It’s like watching the big kid who has no skill whatsoever but just runs over everyone else.